alt Hacker NewsThe separation of wealth during the Gilded age was caused by the same thing it is caused by today: rapid industrialization. This rapid industrialization began when the US was off the gold standard during the civil war. The 1920's gilded age was fueled by fiat money, the greenback.
The great depression was triggered in part by imbalanced gold flows when we returned to gold back currencies.
https://explaininghistory.org/2025/06/12/golden-fetters-the-...
We are essentially replaying the greenback inflation of the 1860's and have been doing it since 1971.
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From your linked article.
” The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 precipitated a U.S. recession, but it was the gold standard that converted this into a worldwide depression. With currencies locked to gold, there was little scope to ease monetary conditions. When the U.S. economy slumped, its import demand plummeted and it exported deflation to the rest of the world. Gold-standard countries could not respond by cutting interest rates or letting their currencies depreciate to stimulate exports – their priority was to defend the peg. As a result, economic downturns spread rapidly.”
> The separation of wealth during the Gilded age was caused by the same thing it is caused by today: rapid industrialization.
What "rapid industrialization" is happening today?
> The 1920's gilded age was fueled by fiat money, the greenback.
Cite? I'm pretty sure that the 1920s, $20 was literally a gold coin of a certain size.
> The 1920's gilded age was fueled by fiat money, the greenback.
So-called fiat money didn't become a thing until after FDR became president, which was after 1932.